Final exam Flashcards
Weeds have a significant impact on the farm profitability, which of the below dose not describe the direct impact of weeds on profitability?
a) reduced water available for crops
b) reduced grain quality
c) Reduced product marketing options
d) reduced organic matter input into the system
Reduced organic matter input into the system
The most important role of legumes play in pasture system is to:
a) Provide variation in diet for the animal
b) improve pasture nutrition quality for the livestock
c) Fix nitrogen to supply the grass species
d) improve pasture competition with weeds
b) improve pasture nutrition quality for the livestock
In general terms, what tends to be happening with global crop productivity and demand?
a) agricultural productivity tends to be plateauing in developed nations while population growth is slow
b) developing nations in areas such as Latin america and Asia have large rates of population growth but agricultural productivity has reached its potential
c) Europe and North america have the greatest potential to increase agricultural productivity
d) developing nations ten to have the ability to increase agricultural productivity and population growth is slow
a) agricultural productivity tends to be plateauing in developed nations while population growth is slow
Which of the following is unlikely to assist in management of stubble born diseases?
a) controlling volunteer plants in the following season
b) rotation of crop types
c) retained stubble
d) fertilization
c) retained stubble
Which of the following is unlikely to assist in management of stubble borne diseases
Select one:
a. Controlling volunteer plants in the following season
b. Rotation of crop types
c. Retained stubble
d. Fertilisation
C) retained stubble
Plant industries in Australia often (but not exclusively) follow basic geographic trends. Select the correct answer:
Select one:
a. Southern areas tend to grow summer crops because their summers are mild
b. Southern areas tend to grow winter crops because rain falls in the winter
c. Northern areas tend to grow summer crops because winter is too cold
d. Northern areas tend to grow winter crops because rain falls in the winter
b. Southern areas tend to grow winter crops because rain falls in the winter
Why does soil texture matter?
Select one:
a. It determines the organic matter and nutrient concentration of the soil
b. It determines how much water will be available to the plant
c. It determines how much charge the soil has and how much water it can hold
d. It determines the pH of the soil
c. It determines how much charge the soil has and how much water it can hold
Identify which reason is the LEAST likely to explain why Agricultural enterprises have got bigger over time
Select one:
a. Cost-price squeeze (declining terms of trade)
b. Economies of scale- farms are more profitable if they are bigger
c. Technology reduces labour requirement
d. Corporate farms have bought up large areas as investments
a. Cost-price squeeze (declining terms of trade)
Select the answer that does NOT directly influence water available to the crop.
Select one:
a. Sowing configuration (row spacing, plan density)
b. Fallow management
c. Fertiliser rates
d. Stubble retention
e. Sowing timing
C) fertiliser rates
How did the introduction of freehold land titles encourage the development of the agricultural industry?
Select one:
a. It stopped drovers grazing on other people’s farms
b. Because the farmers didn’t have to pay rent, they could afford new equipment
c. It incentivised investment in farm technology and infrastructure
d. They didn’t, the agricultural industry would have developed anyway
c. It incentivised investment in farm technology and infrastructure
Which management practise DOESN’T directly influence soil organic matter? Select one: a. Cultivation b. Stubble retention c. Fertilisation practise d. Application of lime
D) Application of lime
How many stomachs does a ruminant have? Select one: a. 2 b. 1 c. 5 d. 3 e. 4
E) 4
Which class of sheep has been in a rapid state of decline as a proportion of the overall flock for the past 30 years? Select one: a. Wethers b. Ewes c. Lambs d. Rams
A) Wethers
What is the major market for meat from Australian cull cows and bulls?
Select one:
a. Manufacturing beef for export to USA, SE Asia and China
b. Whole carcasses for export to the middle east
c. Export to the EU
d. Meat Standards Australia
e. High quality beef for export to Japan
a. Manufacturing beef for export to USA, SE Asia and China
Which of the following countries/regions is the TOP export destination for wool? Select one: a. Greater China b. US c. Czech Republic d. India
A) greater China
What are the 3 main systems of a beef operation?
Select one:
a. Environmental systems, business systems and crossbreeding systems
b. Animal systems, soil systems and marketing systems
c. Genetics systems, data management systems and pasture systems
d. Breeding systems, marketing systems and pasture systems
e. Pasture systems, animal systems and grazing systems
e. Pasture systems, animal systems and grazing systems
Which of the following countries/regions is NOT in the top 4 export destinations for Beef? Select one: a. Greater China b. US c. Indonesia d. Japan e. Korea
D. Japan
What proportion of cattle slaughtered in Australia come from feedlots and is the importance of feedlots increasing or decreasing?
Select one:
a. Around half of all cattle – decreasing
b. Around 1/3 of cattle - decreasing
c. Around ¼ - Increasing
d. Around 1/3 of cattle - Increasing
e. Around half of all cattle – Increasing
B) around 1/3 of cattle- decreasing
Over the past 50 years, the number of piggeries is …………….. and the average herd size is ……………. Select one: a. Decreasing, Decreasing b. Decreasing, Not changing c. Decreasing, Increasing d. Not changing, Increasing e. Increasing, Decreasing
c. Decreasing, Increasing
The palatability of feeds relate to:
Select one:
a. How much metabolisable energy is in the feed
b. The concentration of mycotoxins in the feed
c. How much the animals like it
d. The mineral content of the feed
e. How well the animal can digest the feed
E) how well the animal can digest the feed
Which of the following is more important for grazing beef and sheep production systems?
Select one:
a. Price received per kilo
b. Output per unit area ie kg Beef/Ha
c. Price received per animal
d. Production per animal ie weaning weights of calves
b. Output per unit area ie kg Beef/Ha
It’s expected rainfall is going to get more random (variable), so we need to manage our system by:
Select one or more:
a. Genetically changing our animals to store fat storage
b. Removing legumes from our pastures
c. Having monocultures of grasses
d. Changing our pasture species
e. Conserving fodder
A, d, e
Lovering and Crabb (1998) stated “much resource degradation in Australia is now regarded as irreversible”. In this context they suggest the first principle of sustainability of an agricultural system is to:
Select one:
a. don’t worry about resource degradation
b. with increasing land degradation the long term economic viability of the farm will always increase
c. identify the continuing threats to resource degradation and encourage damage to the natural resource base
d. identify the continuing threats to resource degradation and ensure there is no more damage to the natural resource base
d. identify the continuing threats to resource degradation and ensure there is no more damage to the natural resource base
There is a relationship between the legume plants that supply carbon and the rhizobium bacteria that fix nitrogen from the atmosphere which is then utilised by the legume.
Select one:
True
False
True
The addition of legumes (including clover) decreases the amount nitrogen content available for the animals to graze.
Select one:
True
False
False
What is the major limitation of native grasses in the Kirby grazing system?
Select one:
a. long lifecycle
b. short lifecycle
b. short lifecycle
How can you identify a stock camp:
Select one:
a. Always at the middle of the slope
b. Always at the bottom of the slope
c. Often green with thistles
c. Often green with thistles
What dose Sustain mean?
a) Maintain, keep in existence
b) developments that meet the needs of the present while present while safeguarding Earths life supports
c) Maintain the natural environment
d) safeguard the earths existence
a) Maintain, keep in existence
In economics a natural resource is seen in terms of its ?
a) Dollar value rather than its environmental potential
b) cost over environment sustainability
c) expected benefits verses costs of alternative
uses and is usually on a national scale
d) National scale and expected benefits
c) expected benefits verses costs of alternative
uses and is usually on a national scale
What is the possible implication of views the natural environment from an economic standpoint?
Implications of this view is that degradation or
loss of production may not always be bad as
these trends may be justified in terms of
economic and social outcomes.
What dose ecological sustainability mean?
using, conserving and enhancing the communities resources so that ecological processes, on which life depends, are maintained and the total quality of life, now and in the future can be increased”
Sustainability from a agricultural standpoint
using farming practices and systems that will
maintain and enhance the viability (often
defined in economic terms) of agricultural
production, the natural resource base and other
ecosystems that are influenced by agricultural
activities.
– emphasis is on maintaining or improving the resource
base in the “long” term
– implies non-sustainable system will be characterized
by degradation of a resource and/or a decline in
productivity
Sustainability issues that need to be consider in an agricultural systems.
Soil erosion Salinisation (increase salts) Acidification (lower pH) Weed and pest encroachment Water quality and availability Pollution and vegetation decline Profitability Marketing Social benefits
Estimated economic loss due to degradation of weeds?
a) 0.45 billion
b) 5.3 billion
c) 3.9 Billion
d) 2.8 billion
c) Weeds (impact and control costs) $3.9
billion annually
Estimated economic loss due to degradation of subsoil depletion?
a) 0.45 billion
b) 5.3 billion
c) 3.9 Billion
d) 2.8 billion
b) Subsoil depletion (2010-11) $5.3 billion
Estimated economic loss due to degradation of land degradation?
a) 0.45 billion
b) 5.3 billion
c) 3.9 Billion
d) 2.8 billion
a) Land degradation $0.45 billion
Factors determining the distribution of
agricultural enterprises
- Economics
-Social issues - Transport/Technology
- Ecology (Soils &
plants)
Sub tropical perennials
a) Bromes, barley grass & medics
b) Rye grass, barley grass & Poa
c) Poa, Wallaby grass and Kangaroo grass
d) Spear grass, wiregrass, native sorghums,
b) Poa, Wallaby grass and Kangaroo grass
Temperate annuals:
a) Bromes, barley grass & medics
b) Rye grass, barley grass & Poa
c) Poa, Wallaby grass and Kangaroo grass
d) Spear grass, wiregrass, native sorghums,
a) Bromes, barley grass & medics
Tropical perennials:
a) Bromes, barley grass & medics
b) Rye grass, barley grass & Poa
c) Poa, Wallaby grass and Kangaroo grass
d) Spear grass, wiregrass, native sorghums,
d) Spear grass, wiregrass, native sorghums, Mitchell and Flinders grass
Pastoral/farming Zones • Northern Pastoral – ? • Southern Pastoral – ? • Wheat -Sheep Zone – ? • Beef -Sheep Zone – ? • Dairy Zone – ? -?
Northern Pastoral – summer perennials • Southern Pastoral – temperate winter annuals • Wheat -Sheep Zone – winter annuals • Beef -Sheep Zone – cool temperate perennials • Dairy Zone – introduced pasture – Better rainfall, soil and irrigation
Rainfed (dryland) agriculture:
cropping that totally relies on rainfall. It is the dominant system in the
humid and semi-humid regions; rainfall often
insufficient (200 mm ‐ 500 mm) & unreliable
Irrigated agriculture:
cropping relies solely or
partly on artificial water application; dominant in semi‐ arid, arid and semi‐humid regions
• Rangeland (natural vegetation):
Practiced in the arid regions of the world where rainfall is ineffective and unreliable. This type of agriculture is a gamble and
crops if they are grown often fail.
How much of our space is
cropped vrs grazed?
a) Grazed: 399 million ha cropped: 11 million ha
b) Grazed: 400 million ha cropped: 24 million ha
c)Grazed: 355 million ha cropped: 25 million ha
d) Grazed: 355 million ha cropped: 24 million ha
Grazed: 355 million ha
cropped: 24 million ha
Dry land farming systems
Covers ~400 million ha ‘agricultural’ lands
• ~24 million ha cropping (5% cultivated land area is irrigated)
• Concentrated mostly around the edges of the country
Two of the climatic determinants of cropping
- Water availability (rainfall)
* Favourable temperatures
Winter dominant rainfall (southern Australia):
crops tolerant of low temperatures, e.g. wheat, barley,
lupin, chickpea, faba beans, canola.
Summer dominant rainfall:
greater variety of
cropping options allowing summer and winter crops,
e.g. maize, sorghum, cotton, mung beans, soy beans,
rice, peanut, wheat, barley, chickpea, fababeans.
Soil is a reservoir for what growth resources
– Water
– Nutrients
– Micro‐organism
Soil degradation:
decline in soil quality caused by its
improper use, usually for agricultural, pastoral,
industrial or urban purposes (NSW DPI)
Soils differ in their sensitivity to disturbance
Major attributes of soil
Texture: proportion of three mineral particles
(sand, silt and clay) that are differentiated
based on their size
• Structure: arrangement of particles into larger
aggregates of different sizes and shapes
• Horizon: depth and layering soil of parent
material by climate and living organisms.
There are 4 master horizons
resulting in pore spaces between them
Soil particles diameter: Gravel sand silt clay
Gravel: >2.0mm
sand: 0.05- 2.0
silt: 0.002- 0.05
clay: <0.002
Soil structure is the arrangement of particles of various sizes into discrete units (peds) through adhesion
- granular
- platy
- blocky
- prismatc
what dose soil Structure changes:
Water storage • Water/gas diffusion • Nutrient availabilities • Water infiltration • Root exploration
Soil Chemistry, Sands
dominated by silica and produces soils that are inherently low in nutrients, low in charge
Loam and clay soils:
Loam and clay soils: (e.g. basalt parent) minerals weather to release nutrients
(Ca, Mg, K, P etc). Soil weathering creates negatively charged surfaces that
enable it to ionicly attract cations.
The pH (acidity or alkalinity):
a measure of hydrogen concentration in solution. It influences a wide range of chemical processes in soil, including nutrient availability and toxicity
Why dose chemistry matter?
• Nutrient availability
• Make nutrients toxic
• Root exploration and
plant growth
How can soil chemistry be altered?
Can be altered by practice
• Liming
• Use of ammonium based
fertilizers
What is Soil salinity:
high concentrations of soluble salts in soil
Soil salinity causes problems in soil such as
Poor soil structure (particularly sodicity)
Reduces water storage and water availability to the plant
